IN YET ANOTHER TWIST THE CONTRACT REGONITION BOARD HAVE RULED THAT BOTH CONTRACTS ARE VALID.
The Piastri/Ricciardo/Mclaren/Alpine saga took another twist, when the Court Regonition Board ruled that both Alpine and Mclaren’s contracts with Oscar Piastri are valid, basically telling the teams “go and sort it out yourselves”.
WHERE DO WE GO NOW?
Firstly, how have Alpine got into such a mess? Alpine’s contract negotiations are all handled by Laurent Rossi, Alpine’s CEO. He is the man that both Alonso and Piastri’s management would talk to regarding and deals that need to be made. Rossi’s first mistake was underestimating their bargaining power with Alonso, they were not convinced that a longer term deal was appropriate for a driver over 40, so they offered the 2 Time Champion a one plus one contract (guaranteed 1 year with an option for another). Alonso was not impressed with this offer, wanting more security. Rossi felt that he had more cards to play than Alonso.
In steps Aston Martin, who were looking to replace the retiring Sebastian Vettel, they were happy to give Alonso a longer deal (two or three year deal). For Fernando, this was a big part of the decision to move.
Drivers 1-0 Rossi
Piastri is slightly different, Alpine does or did have an option for 2023, however they had a clause in the contract. The clause meant that if Alpine were not able to secure a seat for Piastri in F1 by July 30th, the driver was free to move. If reports are to be believed, Piastri signed his McLaren deal on July 31st, a day after the Alpine option expired. This is confirmed by the CRB ruling the McLaren deal valid.
Drivers 2-0 Rossi
Rossi’s attitude thinking, well if we lose Alonso we have Piastri has came back to bite him, with the chances of losing both drivers for 2023 looking increasingly likely.
OPTIONS, WE NEED OPTIONS!!!
With both contracts validated it is now up to the teams to come to an agreement with the driver. With McLaren, they have a valid contract that Oscar was happy to sign, so for them it’s not quite as complex than Alpine’s situation. Alpine have a few options 1. Force Oscar into the seat. 2. Admit the messed up and let him leave with their (forced) best wishes. 3. Take Oscar to the High Court for some compensation.
Forcing Piastri to stay at Alpine may look like a win in the short term, however it comes at a price, they are putting an unproven rookie into a car that doesn’t want to be there. The very public fight with the driver and Alpine is surely going to have an effect on the working environment. Finally take Piastri to court and ask for compensation. This looks the most obvious choice, Oscar has publicly said No, so why keep him? Go to court (hopfully) get a few quid in the bank and use that money to hire someone to double-check all contracts within the team.
PIASTRI AND MCLAREN
The CRB confirmed that Mclaren has a valid contract for 2023 with Piastri, they look set to honour that deal, on the assumption that Ricciardo will make a deal to step aside. Reportedly, Danny Ricciardo has asked for somewhere in the region of £21million to be bought out of his final year. This might seem a lot of cash, but weigh that against the financial loss of losing 3rd and possibly 4th in the Constructors Championship and the possibility of having a solid driver paring for years to come, it could be the hit that Mclaren have to take to move to the future.
This fiasco is going to run and run, with more twists and turns on they way who knows what the outcome will be.